some new challenge :)

[Piero]

I started observings quite early to avoid the Moon's glare. Due to the abundance of difficult targets in Spring, this report is just a very preliminary attempt to learn how to spot these targets more successfully. So far I have found that an 8mm (~1.3mm e.p.) helps considerably with my little aperture. Said this, the secret is dark skies as always. 

 

Date 25/03/2016b
Time 19:50-21:40
Location Cambridge, UK
Lunar Phase Waning gibbous 94%
Temperature 8C (SSE 11 km/h)
Seeing 2 - Slight undulations
Transparency 4 - Partly clear
Telescopes Tele Vue 60 F6
Eyepieces Delos 12, Delos 8, PM2.5x
Filters Astronomik OIII

M44 Cnc Opn CL 30x
Praesepe. I generally observe this at 15x, but I was too curious to see it with the Delos 12mm. Lovely view of one of my favourite wide field open clusters. There are 9 galaxies inside. Not sure which aperture is required for spotting them, but could be an interesting challenge for dobson users.

Zeta Cnc Dbl star 30x, 75x
Tegmen. It is the third vertex of the triangle formed with Alpha, Beta Cancri. Zeta1 and Zeta 2 were already separated at 30x but they appeared more interesting at 75x. Similar brightness. One seemed more yellow orange whereas the other one seemed more white, to me.

NGC2903 Leo Galaxy 30x, 45x
Faint but visible grey patch, located about 1 degree South from Lambda Leo (Alterf). Visible with direct vision.

NGC3115 Sex Galaxy 45x
Spindle galaxy. Star hopping from Lambda Hya, moving North until reaching 17, 18 Sex. I was not sure what to expect, but it was sufficiently bright to be spot with direct vision. I suspect this should be an interesting target with a dobson.

NGC3242 Hya Pln Neb 45x, 112x +/- OIII
Ghost of Jupiter. Star hopping from Mu Hya. It was nice to come back to this target. Last year I observed with my Nagler 7mm T6. The Delos 8mm also showed this target relatively easily without filter and direct vision at 45x. At 112x and OIII the target did not show additional detail apart from a larger image scale. Sometimes I had the impression to see a kind of ring shape at 45x and 112x when the OIII was used. I am not entirely sure of this I saw this feature, although this planetary nebula has a ring shape.

M65 Leo Galaxy 45x
Leo triplet. Star hopping from Theta Leo (Chertan). Elongated shape just discernable with averted vision.

M66 Leo Galaxy 45x
Leo triplet. It appeared like a grey oval with averted vision.

M60 Vir Galaxy 45x
Star hopping from Epsilon Vir (Vindemiatrix). Used 41 and 34 Vir as pointers. It appeared as a faint grey patch with averted vision.

M87 Vir Galaxy 45x
Not sure I saw this. Star hopping from Ro Vir. I was certainly in the area where M84, M86, NGC4438 (The Eyes) and M87 are. One grey patch was detectable while star hopping but it was quite faint. I suspect this was M87. I need darker skies to spot these Messier galaxies.

M53 Com Glob CL 45x
Grey blob. No star was visible in the outer border, although the target was still visible with direct vision.

Jupiter - Planet 112x
All moons were located at East of the planet. Three of them formed a suggestive little triangle right near the planet. Two equatorial belts, North temperate belt, both polar regions were visible. Not sure about a potential GRS at west in the South eq belt..
 

[estwing]

not messing about there lovely little session Piero...clear skies!

[mdstuart]

Well done on getting out before the moon. Too much high cloud here.

I see you are enjoying some of the brighter ngc galaxies.

Mark

 

 

 

[laudropb]

Very nice early session. Total cloud here for the last few days.

[jetstream]

Great report Piero! The Leo triplet is a goto favorite as is that nice clump of galaxies near it. If we use Simbad as a reference what have you found the 60mm threshold to be on galaxies? Your scope and eyes are working very well. Excellent info that the 60mm takes a bit more mag to get the results. Acey gave this to me a while back, not sure if you have it.

http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/

[Piero]

29 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Great report Piero! The Leo triplet is a goto favorite as is that nice clump of galaxies near it. If we use Simbad as a reference what have you found the 60mm threshold to be on galaxies? Your scope and eyes are working very well. Excellent info that the 60mm takes a bit more mag to get the results. Acey gave this to me a while back, not sure if you have it.

http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/

Thanks Gerry! and thank you and Acey for the website too! I was looking for something like that and that resource seems just great! I will definitely look up the targets I spot in there now! 

Now, back to your question: "If we use Simbad as a reference what have you found the 60mm threshold to be on galaxies?"

 ....... not sure how to do that... I don't see a form to insert my data, but maybe I have to register? 

Could you give me a clue, please? 

[alan potts]

Usual standard or quality reporting coming from our man in Cambridge, well done on getting a session in, I'm still trying to blow the clouds away.

[Piero]

2 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Usual standard or quality reporting coming from our man in Cambridge, well done on getting a session in, I'm still trying to blow the clouds away.

Thanks Alan

I prefer to be considered as a simple observer in the UK. It sounds far less patronising to me. I don't think I have done much and still in a very learning phase. I am just lucky (or unlucky) to be free from commitments with family / friends. I think it is useful to share our findings in order to learn and improve our observations. It's also a good way to stimulate each other with new / old targets. 

Clouds are here too and will stay throughout this weekend apparently.  Let's hope in a clear April!  

[jetstream]

When we talk about object visibility it might help if we use the same source for the data, such as the "V" mag. In Simbad just punch in the identifier you have and the info comes up as well as other identifiers ( very very helpful). One of the faintest objects that I can see reliably and repeatedly is the 3 cores of Stephans Quintet, in my 10" with NGC 7319 being V mag 13.5. In my 90mm NGC 6946 is a great object to tease out, I don't see the V mag in Simbad however.

[mdstuart]

Here is a little table I made...It lists estimated mag limits in mag 5.5 skies
 
30mm bins achieved 7.6 7 x 50mm bins 7.7
10 x 50mm bins 9.9 achieved 9.8
100mm bins 11.4 achieved 11.4
110mm scope 11.8
130mm scope 13.3 achieved 12.4
250mm scope 14.8
350mm scope 15.3 achieved 15.0
400mm scope 15.6 achieved 15.5

[Piero]

I don't have any data as systematic as the one shown by Mark. 

Based on the stars in Ursa Minor (yes, I know, this is very informal )  My current sky is about 5 mag. At the moment, what I can say is that the galaxies at 9mag that I spot did not take much effort, whereas spotting >9.5mag galaxies was considerably more challenging. Having said this, this analysis does not take into account their surface brightness. Galaxies considered for this "draft analysis" have sizes similar to M65, M66, and M77 to give an idea, and I generally use 45x in a 60mm aperture (1.33 exit pupil) for making them out.

Next week I am moving out. The new place might give me a gain of 0.0 < 0.x < 0.5 mag. Keep cross my fingers!

[jetstream]

You are doing a great job with your frac Piero,hopefully the sky is a bit darker at the new location. Another useful site is this one, all this helps to piece things together.

http://www.ngcicproject.org/pubdb.htm

[Piero]

13 minutes ago, jetstream said:

You are doing a great job with your frac Piero,hopefully the sky is a bit darker at the new location. Another useful site is this one, all this helps to piece things together.

http://www.ngcicproject.org/pubdb.htm

Nice one! Even easier to use than the previous resource! I will start using these two websites before and after viewing faint targets (..faint for my 60 of course!  )